HTC One Successor Launch Tipped for Early 2014 in Patent Trial Ruling

A patent trial between HTC and Nokia in the U.K. today had the unintended result of revealing what could be the launch window for the Taiwanese company’s next flagship smartphone. According to High Court judge Richard Arnold’s public ruling, the HTC One successor—allegedly codenamed the HTC M8—will launch in either February or March 2014.

BBC News reports that the information was revealed by Nokia as part of its official evidence, though it’s unclear how the Finnish company learned the details of its competitor’s 2014 roadmap. HTC’s lawyers reportedly declined to contradict Nokia’s claims, however, suggesting that the information is accurate. Then again, the timeline is apparently what kept the judge from banning the flagship HTC One from sale in the U.K., though the One Mini now has an injunction against it, so it may have been in the company’s best interest to go along with Nokia’s evidence.

This latest rumor also lines up with previous reports, and fits into the company’s recent product cycle. The HTC One was released in March 2013, so we expect its successor to launch around a year later. Based on previous leaks, the HTC M8 may also come equipped with a 5-inch display, a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and run Android 4.4 KitKat, though we won’t know anything for sure until the company makes an official announcement next year.